I don't know what Syracuse forward Alexandre Picard's been doing while recovering from his knee injury, but it's quite obvious he's passed a lot of time by lifting weights.

Picard said he's 10 pounds heavier than last year, up to about 205, and it shows in his upper body. He was an agitator before; now he looks like a solid light-heavyweight.

"I was just working out upper body. When you do that six days out of seven, you get bigger,'' Pic said Tuesday.

Picard received medical clearance on Monday and is expected to play against Manitoba on Friday.

- Crunch captain Zenon Konopka, who is out with a broken hand, saw the doctor on Tuesday. Konopka said the report was good, moving his comeback perhaps up to as early as the end of this month.

- If you watch the TV show "Heroes,'' you know the name of the new bad guy is Adam Monroe. So I just had to ask Syracuse goalie Adam Munro if he is a fan of the show, and if he knows that his name has been pilfered.

"I tried it for the first time (in awhile) the other night,'' Munro said. "I was like, 'Whoa.''

He said he doesn't think enough of his teammates watch the show to give him a hard time about the coincidence. But I would think whenever Munro is the hero of a Crunch game it would open up all kinds of promotional tie-ins for the front office, no?